ИСТИНА

Now, in 2017 more than one half of Earth population lives in urbanizes areas. So, the problem of land-use and microclimate changes in city area becomes more important in the context of inhabitants' long-term quality of life. And good knowledge about nature of urban climate and formation of urban heat islands (UHI) became one of important tasks. Despite the number of big cities are located in high latitudes, especially in Russian Arctic (Murmansk with ≈300 000 inhabitants, Norilsk with ≈180 000 inh., Novy Urengoy with ≈110 000 inh. and a number of cities with more than 50 000 inh.), the climatology of their UHIs has not been practically studied. For Arctic region such investigation was performed only for towns in Alaska (Barrow and Fairbanks). Keeping in mind that during polar night and polar day sunlight conditions are quite different, the idea to explore UHI climatology in Arctic becomes more and more attractive. After the first experience in 2013-2014, our team developed Urban Heat Island Arctic Research Campaign (UHIARC) in five cities of Russian Arctic. Four of them are located within flat and homogeneous terrains which makes them especially prospective places for Arctic UHI study. Analysis of the collected data showed the existence of significant UHI with the difference between city center and surrounding landscape up to 10-12ºC that can have strong impact on house heating strategies and inhabitants' thermal comfort.